776 BCE:The origins of the Olympics dates back to 776 BC when the games began as part of a religious festival honoring Zeus. It was the social and cultural highlight in Ancient Greek life and formed the basis for the Greek’s earliest calendar where four year increments, called Olympiads, were measured in accordance with the frequency of the Ancient Greek games. The athletic competition of the original Greek games were actually only a part of the events which included religious events, diplomatic meetings, and social gatherings. 















Community-Oriented: Thousands of people came from all over Greece to compete and the Olympics were a way to celebrate and showcase cultural and political achievement, as well as to promote peace and unity among the city-states of Ancient Greece.













Peloponnese, Greece: The Olympics were first held in the rural town of Olympia located in the Pelopennese region of Greece. Every four years, special envoys would travel to all the city states of Greece so that people would know the dates for the Olympics. While many city-states fought one another in order to secure more political power, all conflicts were put on the Olympic truce which stated the city-states could not be at war with one another one month ahead of the games so that people could train to prepare for, and compete in, the games.